Write to your Councillor

We are encouraging all of our supporters who feel as let down as we do by Council’s rejection of protected bike lanes in the CBD to individually contact their local Councillor and express their disappointment. If you follow us as a Brisbane visitor rather than as a resident of Brisbane City, you might like to write to the Lord Mayor instead.

If you’re not sure which council ward you live in, check here. Councillors and their Ward office contact details are on the individual ward pages, linked here.

You might also like to check out if your councilor is active on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc), and if they will be appearing at local events (school fetes, markets, community events, etc) in the coming weeks where you could have an opportunity for a face to face conversation.

We encourage you to respectfully communicate your own views and perspective on why rejecting protected bike lanes is a bad idea. Here are some points you might like to include if you’re communicating in writing:

Remind them of the petition, by providing a link to it, pointing out that together with the hard-copy version, it had almost 3,000 signatures.

Point out that the rejection letter simply restates all the incorrect assumptions and excuses that we have already refuted.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Explain why this decision is disappointing to you and your family and neighbours; people who live in your area whom your local Councillor is supposed to represent. You might like to point out that this is not about convenience for people who already ride; it is likely to be the difference for many people between riding to work or between meetings or into the city their your family on the weekend and not riding at all because it simply doesn’t feel safe.

If you have some experience riding a bicycle in the CBD, you might like to provide details about where and why it often feels risky or uncomfortable. You should point out that in a first world city no-one should feel unsafe getting to work or going about their daily business, and that active transport options are vital for a healthy city.

You might also like to make the point that you are disappointed in Council’s failure to debate this issue in a public forum and to engage with the community in a constructive way. You may have expected better from your elected representatives.If your local Councillor is a member of the Establishment and Coordination Committee, then they will have been directly involved in making this decision:

Lord Mayor, Councillor Graham Quirk (Chairman)

Deputy Mayor, Councillor Adrian Schrinner – Chandler Ward

Councillor Krista Adams – Holland Park Ward

Councillor Matthew Bourke – Jamboree Ward

Councillor Amanda Cooper – Bracken Ridge Ward

Councillor Peter Matic – Paddington Ward

Councillor David McLachlan – Hamilton Ward

Councillor Julian Simmonds – Walter Taylor Ward

Please feel free to send us a copy of your correspondence to space4cyclingBNE@gmail.com